CHOPT Toolkit Release

Kimberly Tuck, RN

We are delighted to share that the CHildhood Obesity Prevention & Treatment (CHOPT) for Medicaid project toolkit has been released.

The important work of CHOPT for Medicaid was realized through the generous support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation’s commitment to building a culture of health to reduce health disparities and improve the social determinants of health serves as the basis for the nation’s work in addressing salient issues among the Medicaid population.

Childhood Obesity remains a serious threat to the overall health of America’s children. According to the 2016 census results, 38% of all U.S. children have their health insurance covered through Medicaid. Currently, 17 percent of children ages 2-19 years remain overweight or obese. Childhood obesity alone is responsible for $14 billion in direct medical costs. Obesity-related medical costs in general are expected to rise significantly, especially because today’s children with obesity are likely to become tomorrow’s adults with obesity.

This toolkit is designed for use by Medicaid Health Plans across the U.S. The toolkit highlights current research regarding the issue. This toolkit is a companion to the CHOPT “Overview and Action Plan for Medicaid Health Plans,” published 2016. The purpose of this toolkit is to be a comprehensive resource for use by Medicaid managed care organizations to develop, test, and implement programs to prevent and treat childhood obesity.

This toolkit focuses on:

• Addressing the social determinants of health and cultural sensitivity.
• Building community partnerships and engaging families.
• Engaging clinical teams.
• Capturing and analyzing quality data
• Planning long-term sustainability and securing funding.

The toolkit highlights Case studies from Childhood Obesity Initiatives developed by Medicaid Health Plans across the country and resources for Implementation of Childhood Obesity Initiatives. The toolkit also contains a Readiness Assessment to prepare for the launch of a Childhood Obesity Initiative, Tools to Guide the Implementation of a Childhood Obesity Initiative, and A Sample Action Plan.

The toolkit is available to interested parties at http://bit.ly/CHOPTtoolkit.